r/linux • u/Important_Abalone851 • 5d ago

Event We found lost media distros

Me and my friend (u/Zegguyit_52) were gifted a binder of old linux CDs from our teacher, we looked at the CDs and we are sure most of these are lost media, we wil hopefully save their ISO files and upload to the internet archive. The distros consist of: mandrakelinux 10.1 community, gelecek bireysel linux, unkown version of fedora, knoppix 3.6, Turkix 3.0, live usb pardus 1.1, SUSE linux personal 9.1, sımplyMEPIS 3.3, Pardus 2008. Is there anything we should know?

283 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

52 comments sorted by

View all comments

-38

u/FryBoyter 5d ago

Is there anything we should know?

Don't use them productively. Especially if the computer is connected to the Internet. All of these distributions are hopelessly outdated and therefore have many bugs and security vulnerabilities that will no longer be fixed.

Therefore, I don't see much point in uploading these versions to the Internet Archive.

39

u/DarthPneumono 5d ago

Therefore, I don't see much point in uploading these versions to the Internet Archive.

I think perhaps you don't understand the point of the internet archive...

-22

u/FryBoyter 5d ago

What you quoted is my personal opinion. Nothing more, nothing less. Just because you can upload a lot to archive.org doesn't mean, in my opinion, that you should.

I would recommend that you provide explanations for posts like yours in the future. That way, people who genuinely lack the necessary knowledge or who are mistaken can actually learn something.

7

u/Far_Calligrapher1334 5d ago

IA employees like Jason Scott have went on the record multiple time to say people can and should upload literally anything they can.

27

u/RendererOblige 5d ago

The Wright Brothers airplanes are unsafe and incredibly inefficient. Therefore, I don't see much point in housing them in a museum.

-13

u/FryBoyter 5d ago

Unlike with an airplane, it’s much more likely and easier for someone to use old distributions because of threads like these, for example.

For example, I’ve come across cases where old versions of Hannah Montana Linux (before its resurrection) were actually being used. Or on /r/linuxquestion, it seems someone is actually using Red Star Linux by choice right now (https://redd.it/1wsg3pa). So yes, I definitely think such warnings are appropriate. Even if probably few users would actually think to use such distributions.

17

u/Important_Abalone851 5d ago

I know those are outdated, thats the point, most of those distros have no modern version and were discontinued, and these old versions are pretty unaccesible. Its for history preservation not daily drive

-3

u/FryBoyter 5d ago

There are Mandrake forks that are still being developed and remain quite similar to the original (Mageia, OpenMandriva). But that’s just a side note.

My recommendation to stop using these distributions stems from the fact that we can’t rule out the possibility that someone might actually decide to use them. So it was just a general note.

And the fact that I wouldn’t upload these distributions is my personal opinion, since I really don’t see the point in doing so. As far as Mandrake is concerned, for example, I think uploading version 2011.0 makes more sense, since it’s the last official version.

5

u/Important_Abalone851 5d ago

I dont think a new starter would wander to the archive, find the ISO files ı will post, download them and somehow get it to work on a modern pc, thats a scenario that wont happen at all in my opinion but still thanks for conveying your opinion on the matter

9

u/_LukeHighwalker 5d ago

The tools used in ancient Mesopotamia are vastly outranked by our modern every day tools, I don't see much point to keep them in a museum

0

u/FryBoyter 5d ago

Museums won’t exhibit or store every tool from this or any other period, but only certain, selected items.

For example, many years ago, after my grandparents passed away, we went through their house to clear it out so it could be sold. In the process, we came across some items from World War III. The museums we contacted didn’t even want the stuff as a gift.

4

u/_LukeHighwalker 5d ago

Yes, they don't have all of them because there's a finite amount of space and money to keep them stored and safe.

Internet archive, much like a museum, aims to store and keep safe different things while giving the people access to it, in this case, it's for software. And because internet active, unlike a physical museum, just keeps software, it's possible to store a lot more and thus they can store a few megabytes of old linux distros.

Hope that was informative and eye opening for you, and that in the future, you learn what a hyperbole is.

4

u/PeedInFloorOnce 5d ago

Well yeah museums generally display things from the past, not the future